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Hybrid Conversions for older vehicles?

I have a '91 Honda Civic wagon in excellent shape, but with high mileage. I understand from Honda's website they are not making the 4-door wagon anymore, much less a hybrid version. I may need to replace the motor on it soon anyway, so I wonder if it would be possible to partially or fully convert it to a hybrid at the same time. Does anyone have information about this? Thanks.

Hybrid Conversions for older vehicles?

I'm not sure it would be easy to do a full hybrid conversion. One cool thing would be if you could retrofit a starter generator into an older car, and have the engine stop at a stoplight, just like in a hybrid.

Hybrid Conversions for older vehicles?

If we could find someone in our auto industry with just a tiny bit of imagination, who knows what we could do?

I've been trying to get someone to take a look at these ideas for some time. In one scale or another everyone of these systems have been proven.

Like to produce a vehicle that can burn rubber on takeoff on all four wheels and get 90+ mpg?

What I would like to see the automakers working on would have:

A turbocharged, two cylinder opposed, 2-cycle, air-cooled diesel directly
driving a generator. (It would not be running most of the time.) A 111 volt Lithium-Ion Polymer battery pack. Nothing but wires going from the
controller to every wheel, except for the necessary additional friction
brakes (of course). An added advantage of this would be the ability to recharge from the electrical grid while at home, saving even more on fuel.

Each wheel, depending on the feedback to the controller from wheel speed sensors would drive with just the right power depending on the accelerator position. You would get recharging from deceleration just as you do in today's hybrids. You would also use this feedback to stop the wheel from skidding.

Each wheel would have a stationary stator and a series of fixed magnets
closely adjacent all around the inside of the wheel. In a sense it would
operate each wheel in a very similar fashion that the mag-lev trains use,
except the motion would be circular, of course. Something very different
about this type of motor is that the stators are fixed to the axles and the
magnets are driven around them. This gives a significant increase in
mechanical advantage. That's like turning an ordinary electric motor inside out.

There would be no need for ordinary electric motor brushes. In fact, many electric motors operating today are brushless.

Such motors already exist in the model airplane field and their efficiently
is amazing - approaching 90%. I've got a couple and doubt that I would ever buy any other type.

It's possible to hang the model on the prop right out in front of you and
accelerate straight up, like a rocket, with this type motor

In the vehicle the motor/generator would not turn on to recharge the
batteries until they needed it. There are already experimental Lithium-Ion
driven cars that can get in excess of 200 miles before they have to be
recharged by plugging them in.

Lithium -Ion battery technology is so new that I doubt that very many
automotive engineers have even heard of them, much less thought to use them in this manner. Their energy density exceeds that of any other form of rechargeable energy storage.

The Lithium Ion battery is the most efficient battery available right now. So is the outer rotor electric motor the most efficient motor.

Build an SUV right and it will weight less and have simpler, easier to repair/replace modules.

Lets see what we can eliminate while improving performance and efficiency.

Transmission - None

Ignition system - None

Liquid cooling - None

Valves and valve train - None

Use bio-oil/fuels for both fuel and lubrication.

Feel free to pass this along to anyone you know in the Transportation business. I suffer from no delusion that any of them have the imagination to be able to see how something like this could jump them ahead of the competition.

I bought a Honda Civic Hybrid last summer. I enjoy it more than any vehicle I've ever owned. I will Never buy another vehicle that isn't a Hybrid and doesn't get at least 50 mpg.

As far as I can tell, Detroit isn't even thinking the same way I and the vast majority of it's potential customers are.

Hybrid Conversions for older vehicles?

I have a project.

A '64 Chevy 3/4 ton with a home made camper. The camper is 20 years old this summer.

If you live in Berkeley or Oakland you have probably seen it around.

I have followed hybrid technology for years, looking for a way to make this a 30-50 mpg vehicle. (Let's remember that submarines are the origional hybrid technology and submarines have been around almost 100 years.

I have used this camper a lot for handyman work. As such, loaded with tools and supplies it weighs about 6000 pounds.

It is powered by a 170 hp 292 ci "6".

I want to replace the whole drive train with wheel motors, a battery, and a motor-generator.

It appears the parts are avaible.

What of the engineering? The whole front end, rear end, and drive train will be re-engineered.

I have a non-profit video company and would love to get donations for and to make a documentary of this conversion.

Hybrid Conversions for older vehicles?

more ways than one to skin a cat. turbo is often mentioned in performance. turbo is actually hybrid technology. the first form of this hybrid technology came in the form of ram air induction in order to soley boost power. take that same idea and now you have recharging batteries on the highway not just on brakes. you can then also use steam energy from a water cooled combustion engine. not as if that technology is new. with solar panels and H fuel we are out of the crude oil game entirely. so ideas and technology are not the limitation here people. our problem is the government and the peoples lack of regard(present company excepted) to this myriad of solutions. i think the p in california whos houses charge the grid all day(solar), which they get paid for and what they use comes off of that. which results in a zero elctric bill for them, plug your hybrid into that after work(one guy gets 250miles to the gallon and plugs in for free, yep we are troglodytes atm, living in the stone ages.

Hybrid Conversions for older vehicles?

In 1998 I remember watching a television program about two brothers. One was an engineering marvel and the other a business guru. Both very gifted. They were both in their late 50's or early 60's. They knew that replacement of current car engines with hybrid engines (in existing cars) would become extremely important in the future and were working on being able to do this cheaply, quickly, and in mass. The engineering brother was perfecting the mechanics/flywheel/energy storing stuff. The business brother was working on the business model and how low they could get the price down to make it something that could be done is mass volumes.
I thought that their last name was Watts and they called their company Watts Motors. I could be mistaken on the name. I cannot find anything on them using google. They successfully replaced the engine on several cars and they were trying to replace the engine on a Mercedes. I wish I knew what happend to these guys and their company. Both were very smart and had years of experience in corporate America in their respective fields.

Hybrid Conversions for older vehicles?

I was wondering if they make anything that would boost my gas mileage for my 2005 Sierra. I know I should have bought the hybrid, but I didnt have the money at the time, and now I am paying for it anyway.